alt.memetics bibliography

Latest update: March 19, 2002

Additions are still welcome. Also, there is lots of room in this directory
for valuable information (excerpts, abstracts, annotations, etc.) to be
hyperlinked to the bibliography.
Mail to David McFadzean.

"A Generalization of Theory on the Evolution of Modifier Genes"
(PhD thesis Stanford University, available from University Microfilms,
Ann Arbor, MI)

A model of the cultural evolution of memes that control the
transmission of other memes, with the result that
in a population near equilibrium for cultural traits that affect
individual survival, memes for traditionalism (i.e. faithful transmission
of other memes) will prevail.

A book concerning the evolution and anatomy of knowledge. In developing a
biological and social theory of knowledge we shall visit many disciplines
ranging from a theory of Power, Systems theory, Complexity and Gestalt
Psychology. As the book proceeds a philosophy called Perspectivism will
slowly come to life by parasiting on the different topics that we visit.
(project description)

"Sociophysics: A General Theory of Natural and Cultural Systems"
(Nova Science Publishers)

Sociophysics is constructed within the conceptual framework of a Systems
Unification Model which bases the political, economic, and cultural
sectors of human society upon the physical, chemical and biological
aspects of nature.

Starts with the results of a computer competition of programs to play
each other at the Prisoners Dillema. The winning program was by far
the simplest, and involved simply doing what the other player did the
previous turn, and starting of with trust. Expounds on this as a
philosophy (i.e The Golden Rule). Excellent example of computer
behavior providing a terrific insight into humanity.

At first glance this book seems to be a history of Protestant philosophy
in the last 150 years, but it turns out to be the book that set
evolutionary epistemology on its feet. The first edition came out in 1962,
some fourteen years before Dawkins published
"The Selfish Gene".

In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins proposed the concept of the meme as a unit of culture, spread by imitation. Now Dawkins himself says of Susan Blackmore:
Showing greater courage and intellectual chutzpah than I have ever aspired to, she deploys her memetic forces in a brave--do not think foolhardy until you have read it--assault on the deepest questions of all: What is a self? What am I? Where am I? ... Any theory deserves to be given its best shot, and that is what Susan Blackmore has given the theory of the meme.

Dennett's "Consciousness Explained"
presents, but does not demonstrate,
a fully naturalized account of consciousnesss that manages to leave out
the very consciousness he purports to explain. If he were correct,
realism and methodological individualism would collapse, as would the very
enterprise of giving reasons. The metaphors he deploys actually testify
to the power of metaphoric imagination that can no more be identified with
the metaphors it creates that mind can be identified with memes. That
latter equation, of mind with meme-complexes rests for its meaning on the
existence of real minds, which are not to be equated with the thought they
have. Part of a symposium on Dennett's "Consciousness Explained".

Tracing the meme meme back to Darwin, the author finds himself, as it
were on the other side. Instead of finding that cultural evolution is
like biological evolution, Costall proposes the reverse: that biological
evolution behaves like cultural evolution. Intentionality is seen as the
link between social and biological theory.

Parallels between biological and cultural evolution are cited.
The pressures and variety of the selection process inside the brain are
set in the context of events in an increasingly complex social milieu.

"Memes and the Exploitation of Imagination"
in: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, v. 48 Spring '90

Championing the meme as a unit of cultural evolution advantageous to
itself, Dennett corrects most of the basic misunderstandings of memetic
theory found in facile pop sociobiology and cultural philosophy.
According to this view, memes co-evolve as a protective and continuous
network/infosphere, as integral to our phenotypes, as anything
biologically pre-ordained.

An overview of the archaeological work of Marija Gimbutas and others.
It explains the macro-history of human culture, and shows how domination,
patriarchy, and war are culturally programmed, rather than biologically
innate.
Eisler doesn't seem familiar with the term 'meme', but her work
may be the world's most important in applied memetics, in the direction
of stimulating people's immune surveillance regarding the
'Dominator Culture' meme collection.

If social or cultural evolution and biological evolution are to be compared,
it is not by reducing the former to the output of a monolithic mechanism
of memetic selection, but rather, by recognizing that biological evolution
must be viewed as a structurally complex process taking place on a
multiplicity of mutually constraining levels.

This article develops a philosophy of science for memetic evolution and
symbolic representations of memetic events. It also presents a
mathematical analysis of a hypothetical two-meme evolutionary system
with simultaneous modes of replication. Finally, the article relates the
formation of new memes to the population memetics of existing memes.

This, after much delay, is the work that Douglas
Hofstadter mentioned on page 66 of "Metamagical Themas".
It catalogues numerous examples of
memetic evolution in areas of family, sex, religion, health, and
controversy. (table of contents)

Ideas about memes are applied to product development management.
Strategies are explained and supported by constructing analogies between
the innovation process and an informational assembly line, applying the
theories of economist W. Edwards Deming. The richness of alternative
solutions, is seen as a function of the size of the meme pool, and
ultimately as an index to successfull and markeatable innovations.

In making a contribution, a person's life gains meaning. A small
contribution affects a few people for a short time, while a larger
contribution affects many people for a long time. Within the framework
of an abstract, computational world, a metric on contributions is defined.
Simulation of the computational model shows the critical role of
gradualness. Gradualness can be supported by human-computer systems in
which the computer does the copying and arithmetic, and the human applies
a rich understanding of the world. The role of gradualness in the
research area of machine learning and hypertext is highlighted.

"Evolutionary Epistemology, Rationality, and the Sociology of
Knowledge" (Open Court)

An anthology of the 'evolutionary epistemology' school of philosophers,
psychologists, and cognitive scientists. While none of these folks use
the word 'meme', the whole book is about the evolution of ideas through
blind variation and selective retention.

An examination of the cultural symbolism of the Samburu tribe of Kenya.
Symbols and ritualized ideas act as signals capable of altering the behavior
of signal recipients. Attention is given to the local environment and to
symbols as evolutionary replicators.

The described future society has something like an advanced version of the
internet. To prevent memes from spreading, all information is deconstructed
and analyzed for memetic content in realtime by AI's which censor any
ambiguous thoughts that may have covert hooking properties.

"The Divine Archetype: The Sociobiology and Psychology of Religion"
(Lexington Books)

Biological model of religion through 'innately probable strategies'.
The strategic functions of religious belief. The origin of religious
beliefs. Religion and Intellect. The image of god (archetypes).